Archiving Games: DMCA Exemption Lets Libraries Restore Defunct Video Games
The Library of Congress has issued new DMCA exemptions allowing museums, libraries, and game owners to modify games reliant on now-defunct authentication servers. This move enables these institutions and owners to preserve and legally play legacy titles that would otherwise be abandoned due to server closures.
The exemption covers games that can be played without accessing copyrighted content stored on external servers. It permits nonprofit entities to archive and modify games for preservation and educational purposes. This includes the ability to "jailbreak" consoles, within certain restrictions. However, it does not legalize fan-made servers restoring multiplayer to offline games.
"These exemptions are a significant step forward in game preservation," said Jason Scott, a digital archaeologist at the Internet Archive. "They allow us to keep games intact for future generations without violating copyright law."
The new rules build on previous exemptions from 2015 and 2018. Those exemptions first allowed research institutions to circumvent DRM for game preservation, then expanded access to include more administrative functions. The latest update eliminates some red tape, like requiring lawful possession of the original server code.
But preservationists warn the new exemptions still have limits. For example, restoring games is restricted to the physical premises of eligible entities. And fan-made servers remain illegal.
"Why is this still an issue in 2023?," asked Luci Laney, an archivist at the Strong Museum of Play. "Online games are inherently fragile due to permanent reliance on servers. It's a serious threat to the fragile history of Internet-based gameplay."
Lyrik Holland, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), agrees. The legal framework is a positive step, Holland says, but "it doesn't go far enough to support full access to our digital heritage."
One challenge is determining the scope of what should be preserved. Executable game files are only part of the picture. Other elements like patch histories, chat logs, user-generated content, websites, and videos capture the culture and evolution of games over time.
"A game isn't just a code base or a story arc—it's a community, and all the messy interactions of players," explained Holland. "That's difficult to capture but incredibly important to preserving the history of interactive media."
Existing initiatives provide some models for large-scale game archiving. The Preserving Virtual Worlds collection, for instance, gathered player interviews, world descriptions, and videos of key moments in titles like Second Life. And the British Library has started archiving gaming websites to preserve online discussions, emulators, and other resources.
But the real-world workflow of preservation in this space is complex, noted Laney. "Abandoned games often sit in a legal gray area. And even if you have permission to archive, many have technical barriers—lost source code, incompatible formats, dependencies on outdated hardware."
Furthermore, the experience of playing preserved games is rarely the same as its original state. Control schemes might be remapped, visuals run at low resolutions, and server functions wobble in and out.
"Take, for example, the virtual world LostPetal," said Scott. "We keep it ticking over in our emulators, but it's a silent, static world. Players can't enter, and no new pets are born. The critical spark of life is missing."
The effort, however, carries cultural benefits, said Laney. Living in an age where game preservation is possible, but still not assured, is a troubling contradiction. "It implies that we may not have the technical capacity to preserve certain forms of history, particularly those born on the Internet. This seems to be another growing gap between our ability to produce digital media and our ability to preserve it."